H.B. No. 301
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to judicial review of certain ad valorem tax
1-3 determinations.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 42.22, Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-6 follows:
1-7 Sec. 42.22. VENUE. (a) Except as provided by Subsections
1-8 (b) and (c), and by Section 42.221, venue <Venue> is in the county
1-9 in which the appraisal review board that issued the order appealed
1-10 is located.
1-11 (b) Venue of an action brought under Section 42.01(1) is in
1-12 the county in which the property is located or in the county in
1-13 which the appraisal review board that issued the order is located.
1-14 (c) Venue is in Travis County if the order appealed was
1-15 issued by the comptroller.
1-16 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 42, Tax Code, is amended by
1-17 adding Section 42.221 to read as follows:
1-18 Sec. 42.221. CONSOLIDATED APPEALS FOR MULTICOUNTY PIPELINE.
1-19 (a) The owner of an oil or gas pipeline that runs through more
1-20 than one county and is appraised by more than one appraisal
1-21 district may appeal an order of an appraisal review board relating
1-22 to the pipeline, to property attached to or connected with the
1-23 pipeline, or to an easement or other real property on which the
1-24 pipeline is located to the district court of any county in which a
2-1 portion of the pipeline is located if the order relating to that
2-2 portion of the pipeline is appealed.
2-3 (b) A petition for review of each appraisal review board
2-4 order under this section must be filed with the court as provided
2-5 by Section 42.21. The fee for filing each additional petition for
2-6 review relating to a pipeline after the first petition for review
2-7 relating to the same pipeline is filed for a tax year is $5.
2-8 (c) If only one appeal by the owner of an oil or gas
2-9 pipeline is pending before the court in an appeal from the decision
2-10 of an appraisal review board of a district other than the appraisal
2-11 district for that county, any party to the suit may, not earlier
2-12 than the 30th day before and not later than the 10th day before the
2-13 date set for the hearing, make a motion to transfer the suit to a
2-14 district court of the county in which the appraisal review board
2-15 from which the appeal is taken is located. In the absence of a
2-16 showing that further appeals under this section will be filed, the
2-17 court shall transfer the suit.
2-18 (d) When the owner files the first petition for review under
2-19 this section for a pipeline for a tax year, the owner shall include
2-20 with the petition a list of each appraisal district in which the
2-21 pipeline is appraised for taxation in that tax year.
2-22 (e) The court shall consolidate all the appeals for a tax
2-23 year relating to a single pipeline for which a petition for review
2-24 is filed with the court and may consolidate other appeals relating
2-25 to other pipelines of the same owner if the pipelines are located
2-26 in one or more of the counties on the list required by Subsection
2-27 (d). Except as provided by this subsection, on the motion of the
3-1 pipeline owner the court shall grant a continuance to provide the
3-2 owner with an opportunity to include in the proceeding appeals of
3-3 appraisal review board orders from additional appraisal districts.
3-4 The court may not grant a continuance to include an appeal of an
3-5 appraisal review board order that relates to the pipeline in that
3-6 tax year after the time for filing a petition for review of that
3-7 order has expired.
3-8 (f) This section does not affect the property owner's right
3-9 to file a petition for review of an individual appraisal district's
3-10 order relating to a pipeline in the district court in the county in
3-11 which the appraisal review board is located.
3-12 (g) On a joint motion or the separate motions of at least 60
3-13 percent of the appraisal districts that are defendants in a
3-14 consolidated suit filed before the 45th day after the date on which
3-15 the property owner's petitions for review of the appraisal review
3-16 board orders relating to a pipeline for that tax year must be
3-17 filed, the court shall transfer the suit to a district court of the
3-18 county named in the motion or motions if that county is one in
3-19 which one of the appraisal review boards from which an appeal was
3-20 taken is located.
3-21 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993. The
3-22 changes in law made by this Act apply to any petition for review
3-23 filed under Chapter 42, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, on or
3-24 after the effective date of this Act and to any petition for review
3-25 filed under that chapter that is pending before a district court on
3-26 that date.
3-27 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.